Plugged into Logan Mankins’ old spot at left guard in the Patriots’ 16-13 preseason-ending loss to the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on Thursday night, second-year man Josh Kline played to a mixed review from the head coach.

“Probably I’d say it’s about the same thing with all the players that played,” Bill Belichick said during a conference call Friday afternoon. “There were a lot of good things out there and there were some things that at times weren’t so good, need to be corrected, need to be improved.”

Mankins, of course, was traded to Tampa Bay on Tuesday in a high-profile deal that brought tight end Tim Wright and a fourth-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft to New England.

“Overall, offensively we had not very many problems in pass protection – a couple (Garoppolo was sacked three times for 19 yards), but not very many,” Belichick said, reviewing the line’s play in Thursday night’s game. “We didn’t run the ball as well as we’d like or need to (54 yards on 23 attempts).

“That was a combination of things. Sometimes it was multiple people or a combination block or the back and the offensive linemen with the read or whatever it happened to be. We just didn’t have as much consistency there as what we need, but overall pass blocking wasn’t really a big issue other than a handful of plays.”

Belichick said that Kline’s play was a microcosm of the offensive line’s.

“When you talk about the whole line, you’re probably going to have similar comments about all of them – lack of consistency in the running game, pass blocking not perfect, but certainly manageable,” he said.

Cuts are coming: Teams have until 4 o’clock this afternoon (moved up two hours from the 6 p.m. listing in the NFL Record & Fact Book) to cut their rosters to the regular-season limit of 53.

The Patriots currently have 75 players on their roster, but could keep as many as 55 since cornerback Brandon Browner and wide receiver Brian Tyms face four-game suspensions from the league at the start of the regular season.